Waitrose is Getting Even Posher with Instore Wine Tasting and Concierge Services

Waitrose is on a mission, a "very British" mission, to bring more luxurious convenience to their stores. It's a bid to stave off the competition from the growing popularity of value-led German supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl.

Shoppers at Waitrose can expect hospitality services, like dry cleaning and wine tasting, to become part of their weekly routine by the end of the year. There's no word on caviar availability, or whether there will be enough truffles to go round, but we can be safe in knowledge that luxury is on the horizon.

Holders of a 'myWaitrose' card are already given free tea, coffee and newspapers as part of the store's services. This brought about some bad-feeling on social media, with some sniffy Waitrosers saying that the place was being turned into a soup kitchen.

They better be careful with that wine-tasting then: all those high-end homeless people will be queueing up for a drop of Burgundy before you know it. [Telegraph]